With Russian troops launching an offensive against Ukraine, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday said however much one appreciates Moscow's legitimate security concerns, resort to war is impossible to accept or justify, and India should demand that Russians "stop".
Tharoor also slammed Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan over his visit to Russia amid the developments and cited the example of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who in 1979 as the then foreign minister had cut short his visit to China when Beijing attacked Vietnam.
"If @imrankhanPTI has any self-respect, he will do what Vajpayee Sahib did when China attacked Vietnam during his 1979 visit: he should cancel his trip immediately & go home. Otherwise he is complicit in the invasion," Tharoor said.
Just as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was making an appeal in the Security Council to Russian President Vladimir Putin to "stop your troops from attacking Ukraine" and other Council members calling for de-escalation, restraint and diplomacy, the Russian leader announced the launch of a military operation in eastern Ukraine.
Reacting to the developments, Tharoor tweeted, "So Russia is conducting a 'regime change' operation. How long can India, which had consistently opposed such interventions, stay silent?"
"However much one appreciates Moscow's legitimate security concerns, resort to war is impossible to accept or justify. We should demand they stop," the former minister of state for external affairs said.
Tagging a quote of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in which he said "we are absolutely clear that we will not agree to any change in the status quo, any attempt to change the LAC unilaterally by one side", Tharoor said in a tweet, "This should be our stand on Ukraine as well. Principles do not cease to be relevant depending on the identity of the invader."
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